Why Auto blogs aren't the way to make Money!

Image via Wikipedia

What is an Auto Blog?

Autoblog is a neologism and misnomer used to describe a particular type of website which uses software designed to automatically add content in a blog format.[1] The owner of an autoblog is generally referred to as an autoblogger. Engaging in this practice is called autoblogging.
Autoblogging does not require a site owner to create original web content. An autoblogger merely installs the necessary software, and configures its settings to collect the type of content desired. The automated software handles the rest.

[Via Wikipedia]

Autoblogs are basically just programs designed to publish other people's stuff. Now I am not going to explain some stuff that you might not know. Plugins for Wordpress like WordPress Magic, WP Robot, MultiPress Content, Commission Cheat, and  other autoblogging software are sometimes considered Auto Content Stealing programs. I know more about this then people who are just starting off.  I'm here today to talk about these programs in detail.

Make Money While You  are Sleeping!

You've probably heard that one a lot or Hidden Secrets to commissions in advertising. Most of them do somewhat what they say. I was using one in particular for almost over a year and I didn't see any noticeable amount of money coming in from having that run day in and day out.

I've even seen those advertisements on YouTube and other video places claiming that you could make Millions and not do anything more than install a plugin that takes just 10 minutes install.   These programs however most of the time cost money and that is where the catch is.   I have no problem paying for something that works but most of the time if you claim I can set it and forget about it, I just say no thanks.

Does these work?

I know most of you who are asking this question, and probably saw something on another website and you are quite curious as to if these work or not.  I will give you the short answer "NO", they aren't really a scam because you make money but you really don't make money like you've seen on the advertisements.   You basically just make enough commissions to pay for the product in one year.   I may have made more but you get the gist of that.   You also have to remember that you have to have a really high Google PR to even get the traffic that is needed to make any kind of money.

Just creating a new domain, will not help you because it will have no Google Juice for quite some time and that is if you get any at all.   Most of the time, Google looks down on this type of stuff and stops you before you even get going.

Is this Stealing content?

Most of the time you aren't really taking anything that you shouldn't but that doesn't mean you could be doing that.   Most Auto Blog plugins will allow to you pick what you want to use as content and it will publish what you tell it.  The content that you will most like get are from like Amazon, Clickbank, Commission Junction, and other such Affiliate programs.   They usually allow you to use their content for your website and thus you can use them on your site.   The Kicker to this is, Google and other SEO, they will rank you lower just because of that.   They consider scraper sites to be nothing more than spam and thus you might go down in ranking if your not careful.

How do I know?

I created a Website called "unlocked cell phones blog" trying to test this out.  I created that last year about this time and set up using WP Robot, as my autoblog plugin.   After that year was up, I checked my Amazon Account tracking ID and guess what.   I only made "$56.45".   As you can tell I pretty much made what I put into it, I bought the software for $75 and I got half that back.   I made a little more money on my other Domain Tech-linkblog.com but I couldn't tell you for sure if it was all the plugin or if some of those was because of my old content.

Recommendations!

Here is what I recommend, if your really wanting to do this, do as much research as you can and know this.   There are websites that are specifically designed to waste your time to prevent you from finding your answers.   I know if you look on Google and others you will see that you find all these Glowing reviews and people who are just posting Videos of this type of stuff so they can make a little money.   You really have to go 3 to 4 pages in to find some truth in these AutoBlogging software.   You will find your answers if you ask the right questions and search for what makes sense.   I will not say I am totally against Auto Blogs, but I am not going to waste my money on another one of those in the future.  I now know that making money overnight isn't always going to be possible without at least working for it.

It's not how you do it but what you do that can make your blog a success.  You never know if your going to write the best article in your life or the worst article but until you try.  This I hope has told given you what you have been wondering or asking.   I'd love to hear your comments and your experiences, I might be the only one who hasn't done so good but I'm willing to bet there are others out there.

Paul Sylvester

 

Related articles

• Blog or Bot? (dave-lucas.blogspot.com)


• CB Autoblog (preciseinternetmarketing.com)


• Submit your questions for Autoblog Podcast #260 LIVE (autoblog.com)


• Update to WP Robot Autoblogging Software for Wordpress Adds New Features And Refinements (prweb.com)


• How to AutoBlog the RIGHT Way (williecrawford.com)


• Why I am not making money online (aaronchua.com)

Reviewing the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 Prepaid Mobile Hotspot (Virgin Mobile)

Click picture to see the Price! (Affiliate Link)

My Review of the Mifi 2200 Card!

I probably am not the only one who will be reviewing the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 Prepaid Mobile Hotspot(Virgin Mobile) card (Affiliate link).   I do however have used this card for over 3 weeks and I wanted to give you my opinions on this.  I know I originally bought this for a really good deal for $69.99 and I said a few weeks ago that I was going to talk about this little card.

Technical details:

• What's in the Box: MiFi Broadband2Go Prepaid Mobile Hotspot, AC charger, USB cable, battery, carrying pouch


• experience faster average download speeds of 600 kbps - 1.4 Mbps


• Ready-to-connect with no software to install


• Universal Wi-Fi for ultimate compatibility


• Connect up to 5 devices simultaneously

Observations on the Mifi Virgin Mobile!

I have had several weeks to play around with the Mifi card.   I must say that I am really impressed with this.   I don't have a lot of options on having broadband in my neck of the woods, so when I found this on sale.   I really couldn't help myself because I could now do what I have always wanted to do.   Having internet where I am live and be able to blog more readily available to me.

Pro's:

• Stream Hulu, CBS, NBC, Royal Pains (Affiliate link), Mythbusters (Affiliate link) and Netflix!  (Might require less quality and some buffering but I had no problems watching what I wanted, when I wanted to.)


• Portability of having WPA connections wherever I went.


• I even used my Sisters Ipad to stream Netflix and YouTube on the Mifi card.


• Uses the Sprint Network


• Can use Linux and other Operating systems with the card.

Although, I don't stream all the time and thus I am probably not one of those who is going above their ceiling cap they have.   I've heard once you get above a certain limit.   Probably 10 gigs or something like that they will cut you off but that is something they will not say for sure.   The 2.5 gig limit will slow your speed down but I'm fine with that.  I haven't had any problems with the slow down.

Con's:

• Battery life -- I was able to use my battery for over 6 hours without recharging it but that was with me using it almost all the time.   If you have a long drive or am planning on use it more in your house.   It is best to just keep it plugged in when you use it.  (You can use a Dual USB Car charger to keep the Mifi working while travelling!)


• Signal Strength -- You basically have to keep it close to the windows to get any decent signal strength from the closest cell tower.   I haven't had much problems with speed but I occasionally have had signal drops and reconnects from time to time.


• Cricket Wireless broadband -- This is just as good as Cricket Wireless broadband but since they aren't in the are or have 3g services in my area, I had to go with Virgin Mobile.

All in All!

To sum it up, this isn't a really a bad deal for the price.   Even though the so called "unlimited" is slower than normal speeds after 2.5 gb used, it is probably not going to be any faster than when you use it on a daily basis and thus it is still a good way to have internet in areas where there may not have many internet options.  The Novatel MiFi 2200 from Virgin Mobile (Affiliate link) isn't a bad choice with a no contract.  I'll definitely recommend it for those who might just be needed for spots that don't have internet!

Paul Sylvester

Check out Other Virgin Mobile Devices!

Related articles

• The Novatel Mifi 2200 is coming! (paulstechtalk.com)


• Amazon Deal of the Day: Virgin Mobile Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 Prepaid Mobile Hotspot (gadgetreview.com)


• Tether your Virgin Mobile MiFi 2200 to your Mac (gadgetboy.org)


• Novatel ships three millionth MiFi hotspot (slashgear.com)

Facebook Virus strikes again

“Look you were filmed all naked!” read the subject header on one iteration of the virus-spreading message, which is being sent automatically from infected accounts to the “friend” list for that account. Clicking the link usually takes users to a page that looks like YouTube, and a pop-up message advises the user to download a Flash plug-in. The download contains the virus, which replicates by contacting everyone on the victim’s Facebook friend list and advancing the hoax.

[Via Boston Media]

[ad#ad2-right]This is a good social engineered attack, they seem to have you download a virus into your system.  I Keep talking about how you need to be careful with emails.  I also suggest that you do a complete Virus scan if you think you've been hit with this.  There is only one way to prevent yourself from getting this little facebook virus and that is not to click it. Some other things to consider if you found out this was a virus is to contact the person who sent this to them so they to could do a virus scan on their system.

It is always going to be something to be hard, because these people are using social engineering.   It seems they are trying to prove a point, even Macintoshes can be vulneble to this attack.  If you get anything through you email from people saying they seen you naked or got pictures of your butt, I'd suggest, not clicking those links.

Cricket USB UM100 Broadband Wireless Modem Review.

The UM100c is No Longer Available, Please check out the Cricket A600 Modem Review Or the UM185 Broadband modem. The UM185 modem might be a replacement to the UM100.

After a full week of playing around with this USB wireless, I wanted to talk about it. So let’s break it down into pieces.

1. (USB Broadband A600 Modem card for Free after Instant online rebates and Mail in rebate Free shipping & first month free! Shop today.)


2. Installation –  The installation of the USB was not to difficult.  I did have to do some more steps than this:  Install the Software, then hooked up the USB device to the USB port.


3. Manual Activated the Broadband –  For some reason in my area they had several people have problems with the broadband activation.  So I had to activate it manually!!

After that all went well, I was on the internet just a cruising along.  I did however wonder why I was getting such a slow response speed.  When I went traveling I thought I would share some of my local results with you to better show you my speed.  All these test were done at



Please see an updated post on how to get even more speed from the broad band modem.
This speed is not the true speed for the broad band modem.

The Percentages over the results are showing you just what my signal strength was when I was doing the test.  Two of the 4 were traveling on the highway and the other two were stationary.  I also know that my speed will vary along with signal strength, I know I have to be a mile or less from a tower to get 100%.

*Update* 12/21/08

 

In my other post I talk about why I didn’t get the speed I expected, but after I did the activation, I went to normal Mobile Broadband speeds.   I also now have been using the USB Modem for my main internet without any or much problems.   I know I can’t play any major online games but I can at least have the internet with me were ever  I go.   As long as you stay in the coverage area, you should be in good shape.  .  Like I Said I’ve used it in my area for over a 1 month and with the small little problem, the speed has been really dependable and I haven’t had any major issue with connectivity. I’ve been using this modem as my main internet and have not seen any major internet and have not seen any of the cap come my way.   I think they won’t mind to much as long as you don’t ABUSE the internet, for example don’t use it for bittorrent downloads and you should be fine!!

 

Update 12/24/2008
I also did travel with my laptop to another city, and I got to say it was really good and how it did when I went from one city to another. Check out the report here.
According to some post and forum talks around the the internet they are talking about the soft cap of 5 Gigabytes but that seems to not be so important right now.   After all, they have to make money some how.   I will update as necessary when I find anything else out.

update 1/01/09

I also did a video and uploaded it to youtube using the broadband connection. I had no problem uploading this video to Youtube. I’ve embedded it in this web page. See it on the bottom:



I also bought the A600 Cricket modem and I absolutely love this modem because of the things you can do with it.

Youtube gets ready to Launch "LIVE Event!!" 5pm PST/8pm EST

As the time approaches for the live even for Youtube. There are many confirmed and only one I want to see right now. As many people will agree that Mythbusters is the best show on Discovery Channel. They have been confirmed to be there tomorrow.



Some of the major players confirmed to be there are Mythbusters, Soulja Boy Tell'em, Katy Perry, Esmee Denters, Akon, FRED, and Will. I. Am.   Now I don't know all these stars.   I do Know Mythbusters and I've heard of FRED.   I'm just stating who is going to be there.

[ad#ad2-left]Then the Obvious question comes to my mind and I am sure this is being asked by everyone right now.  Is Mythbusters shows coming to Youtube?  I would say from what all is going on with Youtube, they might become a competitor to Hulu.  With them adding High Defination Viewing and allowing bigger video to be uploaded. There is no question that Youtube and Google is getting ready to release a major statement, or change there direction.   So be ready tomorrow at 8 PM EST/5 PM PST and let's see what happens.

Sites that you need not Visit:

[ad#ad2-right]I've had some Anti-virus problems in the past few weeks and have been trying to see if it is my system or if it was just luck of the draw.  So I did some research and found some sites that you should not go to, or download from.   These sites have been know to spread the fake anti-virus malware software.   So I wanted to warn people of some common websites that have been known to have viruses on them:

• hxxp://movieportal2008q.com/freemovie/Movie/xxxx/x/ -- this site usually tries to send you the "Trojan.HTML.Zlob.AG" Virus.



• hxxp://porntubedot.com/xxxxxxxx/WatchFreeMovie.php --This site usually tries to send you the "Trojan.Dropper.SMN" Virus.



• hxxp://handballfondi.it/xxxxxx1.php -- This site is one of the new Malware sites that looks like Youtube,   When you go to this site they say you need a special to play a video clip.  Most of the time when you get something like this, it is going to try to install Malware. A good broad set of Codecs that you may want to download is called Klite Mega Codec, which if you us that you should never need to download any other codec to play a movie clip from any site online.



• hxxp://0scanner.com/---censored---/ --  This site usually tries to send you the "Adware.FakeAntiVirus.L" virus.  Another site trying to install malware. [ad#ad2-left]
  
  

If you want to check your system, here are some places to go to get a free Anti-virus check:

• Panda Security Active Scan


• Trend Micro House Call


• Kaspersky Labs Free Virus Scan


• Symantec Free Antivirus Scan


• Bitdefender Free Online Scanner


• F-Secure Online Scanner

If you have any other ways sites that we should avoid by all means comment about it. I would love to hear sites that you know are bad!!

Harold and The Purple Crayon

I was looking on Youtube.  I and found this great little video that everyone was watching.  It's call Harold and The purple Crayon.   Check it out really cute.

[ad]

Harold and The Purple Crayon

I thought this was really good animation.   What do you think?  Cute littel animation for kids.  I might go by the book at Amazon.  Clement Hurd was a childrens illistrator and I think he also made this book also but not entirely sure.  Does someone know?

Get over it, You've got no Privacy on the net!!

I've been talking to my friends at work and in other places, they've all asked the same question from time to time.  "Is privacy on the internet a possibility?"  and in short my answer is "No, you've got no privacy on the Internet!"  This is what I like to refer to as people wanting privacy to be on the internet.  Let's face it folks, there is no privacy on the internet.  People are worried about Youtube debacle and I understand! In today's society and time there is no privacy.  If let's say you've come to my site.  What would I find out you?

1. Your IP


2. What you searched for in Google, Yahoo, AOL, to get to my site!


3. Type of Operating System (Windows, Linux, or Macintosh)


4. Where you just came from, unless you've chosen to come to my site directly


5. You screen resolution


6. You browser your using!

I don't tell you this to make you not want to visit my site.  This type of stuff is always going to be recorded by almost 95% websites you visit.  It's always going to be an unspoken understanding.  I have to keep up to date on what happens on my site.  It's just normal to get the information and be able to see where everyone is coming from.

Why do sites have statsictics?  It's to find out how well there site is doing.  It can also be used to keep up-to-date on what happens with search engines and what is popular.  So these sites can become a better site.  Yes it is true that most sites decide well in advance what looks like a popular topic. I understand this and now you can too.  They want people to come to there site.  I hope you understand that to, most bloggers, and I include myself in this, want a discussion about topic at hand.  I love to find out what people think of my site?  Here's a little secret, a hot topic brings out the comments because the ones who are passionate about a topic will comment about it.  It comes in waves though so there will be days that nothing happens and there will be days you get a ton of people coming to my site.

It's the nature of the beast, or I should say the internet.   "Do we need to worry about what we do on the Internet?"  and I say whole heartedly "Yes!!" But if you take my advice and understand this, everyone wins.  Bloggers figured this out in the early days of blogging.  They've know about stats before we even had the internet before blogging was an option.   This is something that has to be present to make these website a better place for people of all nations.

In the near future, I'll be discussing how you can prevent people from finding out some of this information by clearing your cookies and your cache.  That doesn't mean, by doing this you'll be anonymous it just means that no one, will know certain things about you.  For example, have you been to this or other sites before? I'll be explaining this in detail soon, so be watching for it!

Although I've been collecting this data about my visitor I do no have access to other sites so in that respect I only know so much about the people who visit my site.  Now I must point out I do not nor shall I ever keep a log of what people do on my site.  The statistics that I have been gathering, I'll on occasion just delete them and start a new. My statstics are rolling, so I only gather so much data before the new data kills the old data.  So in essence, you are somewhat protected from people looking over you shoulder, but the truth is.  Someone somewhere sometime is going to be watching everything you do at some point.  So lets sit back and relax and imagine we are sitting on a desserted island and you can call me Skipper and I'll call you Gilligan.

While looking around the internet, I found this one article that looks somewhat truthful about the Youtube and Viacom lawsuit debacle.  I thought I'd share it with you and let you decide for yourself!!

Upgrade MsDos 5

Thought people would like to see the past. I remember 5.25' Floppies don't you!! Man that brought back memories. Man I was what 14 when they sold MS DOS 5. I hope people enjoyed it.